Tag: politics
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Firing squad execution to be livestreamed, Pentagon says
The public will be able to watch the execution of a former US Army major by firing squad, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said. I feel physically sick.
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Polyday Politics workshop
Grant ran a workshop on politics (and law) around polyamory, at a recent event. I wasn't there, but enjoyed reading his notes after-the-fact... and wanted to use the opportunity to share some of my own thoughts and experiences.
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Why Are We Taught to Memorise and Not Learn?
Çaki puts forward a political but fair look at the mass-production standardisation of English-language education in British schools. In an effort to make work measurable and objectively assessable, it argues, we're stripping the joy out of the art of writing.
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Elon Musk, Human Ponzi Scheme
With thanks to Mark Palko for sharing: this seems like a spot-on observation of Musk's career. Wouldn't it be nice if the world's first trillionaire also happened to be the world's last trillionaire?
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New social media restrictions
Despite being parody, diamond geezer's new age-gating - which e.g. asks for personal information but, obviously, doesn't actually block access to the site - somehow perfectly straddles the line between "invasive" and "ineffective"... in exactly the same way that I expect the UK's legal implementation will manage in a year or two.
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Wikipedia @ 25: Carl Person
As I continue my 25-consecutive-days-of-Wikipedia, today's random article of the day was Carl Person, a lawyer with an interesting history.
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NHS England rushes to hide software over AI hacking fears
New Scientist reports that the NHS are closed-sourcing a lot of their code, out of fear that AIs like Mythos will facilitate easier exploitation of their systems if they don't. Which is pretty-much... completely backwards thinking.
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Run your own WireGuard VPN
I stopped paying for VPN services a decade ago and I haven't looked back. When I 'need' a VPN service, I just spin one up on cheap VM services, and then I throw it away when I'm done. It's cheaper and more-customisable... and if the UK goes ahead with an idea to age-gate VPN services, it might soon become more-convenient too.
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LGBT+ History Month
Here in the UK we celebrate LGBT+ History Month in February. This year, I'd encourage you to look at the history of queer rights in the UK, and use it to celebrate what we've achieved so far... but more-importantly, as a reminder that there's more to do (especially lately).
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Why there’s no European Google?
Lionel Dricot explains why the big tech companies are mostly American, not European (and why that's a good thing). It's a cultural difference that also results in Europeans being behind so many of the most-important open source and open standards projects in the world.
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The real (economic) AI apocalypse is nigh
Cory Doctorow paints a bleak picture of the future world economy in the aftermath of the bursting of the AI bubble. I agree that we're in a bubble, but I'm slightly more-optimistic that we can survive it without a total economic catastrophe.
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The Beer Token [Video]
A vloggy video version of my blog post about Beer Tokens, for those who'd rather watch than listen or read.
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The Beer Token
Thanks to the success of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy, we can never forget quite how much beer you used to be able to get for a fiver (plus an exceptionally-generous tip). Nowadays, it'll get you one pint, if you're lucky... and that offers us an exciting opportunity...
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The Who Cares Era
Dan Sinker looks at the symptoms and causes of the "Who Cares Era" we find ourselves living in, and raises interesting thoughts about AI's role in it. His post's worth a read, but here's my take.
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My contribution to the long-standing British tradition of photographing dogs at polling stations. Don't forget to vote, folks!
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A French Bulldog stands alongside a polling station sign that's been attached to a bike rack.